Kaltenborn disagrees with Wehrlein injury description

Sauber Team Principal Monisha Kaltenborn has disagreed with the description of Pascal Wehrlein's injury given by Mercedes' Toto Wolff.

Whilst Wehrlein is a race driver for Sauber in 2017, he is also employed by Mercedes as part of its development programme, hence Wolff's involvement. The German is recovering from a back injury he sustained at the Race of Champions in January, but his recuperation is taking longer than expected - meaning conspiracy theories have arisen offering various explanations for the delay.

"I got tired of it because of all the conspiracy theories," Wolff stated in China, having previously claimed to German media that Wehrlein's injury was actually a compression fracture.

"I was hearing (conspiracy theories) that Ferrari wants Giovinazzi in the team because of the engine in the car, and that Wehrlein is a princess because he doesn't want to sit in the car. It's not true. It was simply a serious injury that we did not want to push into the public, but I found it was time to say something so that people will finally give Pascal the necessary time."

Kaltenborn, for her part, believes that Wolff should not have described Wehrlein's injury as merely being a broken back: "What Toto said exactly I don't know," she said to Bild, "but I cannot imagine that it was properly reproduced because it was not correct."

She then stated that the injury in question was not a major fracture, but micro-fractures found in the thoracic vertebrae, and that Wehrlein's return to the driving seat is imminent.

"This does not have to be dramatised, but it is not as trivial as before. Everything is now fine medically, which doctors have confirmed. So it is only a matter of time."

Mason Hawker